Tension
by Caprican
Summary: The night before the big day Aang is having trouble getting to sleep. After some awkward advice, he takes to the hills to relieve his tension. Kataang. WARNING *MATURE AUDIENCES*


WOOSH!

Zuko watched as Aang got up from his meditation once more to pace the room. Nerves wracked him to the point that he wasn't even touching the ground as he paced. The lamps, that had been previously dead flared and quickly died with his every step creating a strange strobing effect around the room that had awakened Zuko in the first place. He was a bit of a light sleeper so he wasn't surprised to still hear Sokka's snoring as he awoke to watch the Avatar pace.

Looking out the windows, Zuko groaned aloud. It was still the middle of the night. He had been asleep for maybe an hour. "Aang," he complained. "What are you doing?"

Aang jumped knocking into the high ceiling with a loud crash.

"What? Who?" Sokka asked with a startled shout, brandishing his pillow before him like a sword.

"Oops," Aang said, laughing uncomfortably and rubbing his bald head. "I'm sorry I woke you guys. I just-"

"Can't sleep?" both men asked in unison.

"It's just tomorrow is the most important day of my whole life!"

Zuko raised an eyebrow and brandished a hand lazily at the now dimmed torches sensing that this would talk might take a while. "Aang, you ended the hundred year war and took down the most powerful firebender in history and you can't sleep on the night before your wedding to the woman you've been in love with since you were twelve?"

"You didn't see him the week before the day of the black sun..." Sokka muttered, sitting up reluctantly.

"This is different! I'm not afraid to marry Katara. I love her! I will always love her."

"Then what is it, air brain? We are trying to get some sleep." Zuko pushed his loose hair out of his eyes.

Sokka shrugged, "Yeah, I mean you guys have been together for what, six years? There can't be too many surprises after that long. Not that I want to hear or know anything about you and my sister!" He shuddered at the thought.

Aang's face turned a bright shade of red at his future brother's innuendo.

"Wait a minute," Zuko said suddenly, his eyes wide as saucers. "Are you—I mean haven't you—I mean..." he rambled.

The monk hid his face in horror. "No..."

Sokka looked between the two in confusion. His brain was still waking up from the dream he had been having about his wife, Toph. "What are you two talking about?"

A rare smile broke across Zuko's face. "It seems, Sokka, your sister's virtue is still intact."

Aang tried to hold his embarrassment back, as realization dawned on Sokka's face. "You mean to tell me all those times you two went off alone, talking and going on diplomatic missions, you never-"

"No, we never..."

"Had sex?" Zuko supplied.

"Yeah."

"How is that even possible?"

"Well, I know the basics, but I've never...you know...done it..."

Sokka and Zuko looked at one another in astonishment. "What you mean with anyone?" Zuko asked.

"Nope."

"But I mean, you know how it feels, right?" Sokka countered.

"How would I know how it felt if I've never done it?" Aang held his face in his hands.

"No, no," Sokka held up his hands. "I mean, you've never, done it to yourself?"

Aang looked confused.

"Hold on a minute," Zuko cut in. "If you've never...you know...'stroked your dragon'? Then how do you –er—settle _him_ down in the morning?"

It took Aang a moment to decipher his meaning before he answered. "Oh! I just meditate until _he_ calms down. Is there another way?"

Again Zuko and Sokka exchanged a knowing look of disbelief. They knew their friend was a monk, but they had never suspected his willpower extended to this.

"My poor sister..." Sokka laughed.

"Hey!" Aang said indignantly.

"I'm sorry, Aang, buddy, but how do you expect to even make it to the sex part if you've never..."

Aang looked at the two with annoyance. They were talking to him as if he were nothing more than a silly boy. He was the Avatar and as far as he could tell, sex was simpler than most things he had done in his life.

Zuko saw Aang's frustration and punched Sokka hard in the arm. The firebender took a deep breath, trying to think of a way to explain. He himself had had the soldiers he had traveled with on his long mission to find the Avatar to explain the finer points of self pleasure to him. He himself had never had to tell anyone else and he figured the way it was explained to him wouldn't cut it. This was definitely not a conversation he wanted to be having. "Aang, you know how sex works right?"

"Basically like puzzle pieces? Then the man fills the woman with seed and she gets pregnant?"

"How can you make something so exciting sound so...sooo...boring?" Sokka asked with a laugh.

"The point is," Zuko cut in before Aang could answer. "The seed part? You can do that on your own."

"But why?" Aang asked, finally sinking into one of the plush chairs.

"Well-" Zuko stammered.

"Firstly because it feels amazing and secondly because if you don't and all of a sudden a woman grabs your— 'dragon'-"Sokka said unable to keep a straight face, "your seed will not make it to the woman and let me tell you, there is nothing more embarrassing." He thought for a second. "Not that I would know."

"_Meaning_," Zuko continued. "You should learn how to please yourself."

"Not that I want to think of my sister in this way," Sokka added, "but if Katara's education was anything like mine, then I'm sure she won't mind telling you how to please her."

"Yes, but how?"

For a long moment Zuko and Sokka were silent, both unwilling to divulge anything they themselves did in private times. Then Zuko had a thought. "You've had dreams, right? About Katara that made your dragon...'shoot fire'?"

Sokka sniggered a little at his friend's choice of words but stopped immediately as a wave of heat singed his hair. "Hey! My sister will never forgive you if you singe me before tomorrow."

The firebender ignored him and fixed his eyes on Aang.

"Well, yeah..."Aang supplied reluctantly.

"Then just think of those dreams and stroke 'dragon'. Pretend it is Katara touching-"

"If you say one more word about my sister and his 'dragon' I'm going to puke."

Aang could understand the sentiment. He himself was growing more and more comfortable by the second. If he didn't get out of there in a matter of minutes, he feared he wouldn't ever be able to look at his two brother figures again. He began to float/pace around the room again. "I get it, trust me. I just don't see how you telling me all this is supposed to get me to sleep! I think the nightmares will keep me awake for weeks."

"Tell you what," Zuko said, standing up and putting a hand on Aang's shoulder forcing him to stop pacing. "Take your glider or Appa and fly out into the mountains where you can be alone. Think of Katara and...tame your 'dragon'. Then when you come back, I am positive you will not have anymore trouble sleeping."

"Just stay away from any campfires you see out there," Sokka added. "Suki, Toph, Mai, and Ty Lee have Katara out there somewhere doing girl stuff."

Without waiting for an them to say anything else, Aang took up his glider and took their advise. He didn't have a week to get over his nerves and if this was the only way to calm him down, he needed to take it.

The wedding was to be held in the Southern Air Temple as a sign of the new beginning for the Air Nomads. So, Aang had the home-field advantage at finding places to be alone in. He glided easily around the peaks to one of his favorite hidden waterfalls. It fell well over four hundred feet to the valley below in the spring disappearing into the mist that shrouded the mountains. Near it's source were several outcrops that made perfect meditation spots. Now he was going there for a different purpose. His face reddened at the thought despite his solitude.

In slow circles, he floated to a gentle stop, folding up his glider moments before touchdown and spinning it like a helicopter to land smoothly. Taking a deep breath, squinted out into the night sky allowing himself a moment to appreciate the natural beauty of the place before he began. The trees were in bloom for spring and fresh green plants were beginning to push through the damp earth. A blazing moon let off just enough lit to see by accompanied by a sky full of misty clouds and bright stars.

Already the anticipation was overwhelming his nerves about tomorrow. He could feel his heart beating rapidly, could feel his skin sizzling with heat he had never tasted. After a moment, he decided to disrobe completely. One by one, he unwrapped the ties that held his air bending robes in place. They were far more complicated that the ones he had had in his youth that simply slipped over his head and he cursed his fumbling fingers as he undid the ties.

Once his efforts were done, he relished the feeling of the cool fresh air on his naked skin. He could feel the presence of all the elements around him raw and pulsing beneath his bare feet. Then he thought of Katara, somewhere out there (though the thought struck him that he had never actually seen the campfire so he couldn't be sure of where she was) thinking of him. Perhaps even wanting him in the same way. Sokka had said she knew about this.

The thought made him groan aloud.

For the first time in his waking mind, Aang looked down at himself, fully erect and did not sit down to meditate. Instead, he closed his eyes and let his mind wander to Katara in her underwear practicing waterbending moves. He pictured her sauntering towards him with a look in her eyes and slowly wrapping her hands around his "dragon." In his mind, he imagined that it wasn't his large callus hands, but her small soft ones gently tugging at him.

A loud moan that was more guttural shook his body as he felt the tension increase. He felt his knees weaken as the sensation began to take hold. A knot in his gut was building, making it hard to breath as he came closer and closer to the edge.

Then, suddenly, he felt a movement behind him along the footpath that led to the ledge where he now stood. His lightening reflexes kicked in and he raised a wall of earth around him in defense while he quickly bending water from the falls behind him. He hadn't heard the approach because of the thundering sound of the falls behind him. "Who's there?" he shouted, blindly, not seeing anyone immediately.

From the garbled earthbending vibrations he was receiving, he knew it was someone he knew, but it was hard to make out who...until she spoke.

"It's me, Aang."

At the sound of Katara's voice, he let out a strangled cry and ducked down below the small wall he had constructed letting the spindled water fall around him instantly cooling down his highly aroused body in an unpleasant abruptness. He didn't respond. How could he? She had surly seen and—he cringed.

Katara on the other hand, seemed nonplussed as she continued walking towards his sanctuary. "The girls and I set up camp just on the other side of the mountain," she explained. "I remembered the spot from when you brought me out here for a picnic a few weeks back."

He slapped his tattooed forehead for not thinking that she would be drawn to the spot they had so recently visited. Still he could not bring himself to speak.

Thankfully she filled the silence, though her voice became more and more anxious. "Toph felt you land up here. At first she thought you had come to check on us and she started to come tell you to go away. But before she could leave, she felt that you were...you know..." He shrank farther down the wall and wished he could bend sight so he could become invisible and run away.

"Anyway," she continued. "She pulled me aside and told me and...well...I decided to see if you needed any help."

Her words surprised him so much, that he stood straight up and wheeled around to face her.

It was as if she had stepped out of his fantasy. She was dressed in nothing but the white wrappings that she wore for bending practice. Her long hair was loose and wet as though she had swum to him. Through the clinging wet material he could make out the outline of her nipples, hard in the cold night air—or at least he thought they were cold with the night air.

"Katara...I...I," He stammered.

"Aang, it's nothing to be ashamed of. I just wanted to help." The sultry look she gave him was enough to bring a greater man than he to his knees.

He found his voice. "Katara, I thought we were going to wait, you know, til tomorrow night."

She blushed. "There are a lot of things I can show you without us actually having sex."

Hearing the word cross her lips made him instantly harden once more. Add that to the look she was giving him in the moonlight, and he understood what Zuko and Sokka had been talking about when they had told him he would lose his seed as soon as she touched him without this first. He was on the verge of it with just her looking at him. But instead of telling her that she looked beautiful, radiant, that she was driving him completely nuts, he said, "Why are you all wet?"

"Oh!" She looked down in surprise. Her confusion gave him a spare moment to breath so he could calm down. "I couldn't sleep so I was practicing my bending in another stream on the other side of the mountain.

"Oh," he responded stupidly.

What he feared would be an uncomfortable silence stretched on after that, but just where the tension was getting too thick, Katara took the final strides forward and hooked her arm around his neck pulling, pulling him into a passionate kiss that sent his blood boiling. The earth wall between them fell instantly and, forgetting he was naked, Aang pushed himself flush against his fiance as he began trailing kisses down her neck.

She moaned into his neck before pulling away and recapturing his lips. When the kiss broke, they were both panting. He wasn't sure if he could hold out much longer and she hadn't even touched him yet. "Is the Almighty Avatar ready to learn a new lesson from his old waterbending master?"

He groaned and nodded into her shoulder, grinding unconsciously against her thigh.

She stepped back and towards the waterfall's edge, the look in her eye made him strain even more. "All you do is take a little water," She gracefully swept the water into a soccer ball-shaped mas between her cupped hands and put it to her lips. "Then you warm it, just a little." She opened her mouth and breathed into the sphere making it pulsate faster in her hands. "And then..." With a quiet deliberateness, she sauntered forward and lowered the water to the height of his throbbing member and let it glide straight over him, allowing the water to form a tight sheath around him.

A strangled cry somewhere between a groan and a yell escaped his lips, quickly silenced by Katara's warm wet lips. He ate up her kisses hungrily as he reveled in the water's warmth. To go from his callused hand to this was like going from a straw bed to a down filled mattress. It was warm and wet and tight. Of their own accord, His hips began to thrust forward into the water as he kissed her.

Then she did something that made kissing impossible. Kneading her fingers around the water, it began to pulsate around him, sending sharp electric pulses though his whole body. His head shot back, and he moaned Katara's name as his body suddenly tensed. The arrow tattoos on his body glowed briefly lighting up the night as he pulled Katara towards him, his climax shaking his whole body.

Suddenly, his legs would no longer support his tall lean frame and he collapsed into a heap of muddy earth taking Katara with him. He couldn't move for several moments—he could barely breath. This was the first time he had experienced this sensation while awake and it was incredible. It felt as though his muscles were made of soft clay and would never support him ever again.

Hugging his future wife to him, he pulled her lips to his and crusher them in a kiss that he hoped told her more than words how much he loved her. "I have learned much tonight, Sifu Katara," he said with a smile.

"You learn quickly my pupil," she giggled coyly.

"Can I return the favor?" he asked kissing her neck once more.

She closed her sea blue eyes for a moment before answering. "Anything I want you to do to me would take away what we are saving for our wedding night," She murmured. "I guess you will just have to have more lessons tomorrow night."

He smiled into the crux of her neck. "I look forward to it, Sifu."

With that she gently dislodged herself from his arms and stood, bending some more water from the falls to clean the mud from her body and underthings. "We should both be heading back. It is bad luck to see one another on the night before our wedding."

Aang bent the muck off of him as well and used air to dry them both before he began dressing once more. "I guess you're right." his voice was glum.

"Will you dream of me tonight?" She asked, looking up at him through her lashes.

In a single pounce he was by her side, he twirled her in his arms and kissed her. "You have no idea!" Setting her down, he picked up his glider and snapped it open, preparing to take to the skies. Then a thought struck him. "Do you want to go for a ride? I will take you back to the girls after."

Katara looked down at her underthings. "I am not exactly dressed..."

Aang swept her onto his back with a flourish. "The you'd better hold on tight!"

By the time Aang came back to the room in the temple he was sharing with Sokka and Zuko, it was a little more than two hours until sunrise. He was so tired and he collapsed immediately onto his simple cot bed, not even bothering to pull the cover over him in the chilly night.

"Did it do the trick, kid?" Zuko asked, a smile on his face despite being woken once more from his sleep. Sokka hadn't even noticed the airbender's entrance and was still sleeping soundly as he murmured in his sleep.

Aang sighed loudly, unable to wipe the grin from his face. "Yes, Sifu Hotman."

Zuko couldn't even find it in himself to be angry at the use of his very annoying nickname. The kid was happy and would finally settle down for the night. He was just glad, Aang hadn't wanted to stay up and discuss the experience.

For now, nerves were forgotten and neither man could think of anything more to say.

And as they both drifted off into what was left of their night of sleep, both knew that there would be no more interruptions until morning.

**Fin**


End file.
